Good one. That's the first thing I thought when looking at the story.
Besides, you never know who's side Eminem is on. He's nutty like that. But, if anyone serves a good challenge to the industry, it's his finger-flippin psychopathic self...
I believe that they'll be CHARGING $250 a head, making a nice profit on the dinner for their legal funds. I can't imagine a dinner that actually COSTS $250 a head unless they're serving baked gold...
Well, I can post... I had the same problem with another posting I had yesterday as well - a bunch of people thought it should be one lower, so someone even moderated it "redundant" - and it was post #6! (The chance that someone said the same thing already is nil - and I checked it out, too). I really don't care either way, because my karma has been at least 48 for the past three months. Not that it matters for anything, but I like being a good contributor to discussion...
Sorry to you both - it's from "The Sound of Music" which DEFINITELY starred Julie Andrews in the movie.
At least I'm very sure of it. Someone let me know how I may be wrong. I've never seen "My Fair Lady" but I'm pretty sure I've seen the song sung in a movie, that's why I'm pretty sure it's NOT from that...
I'm not gonna try to slander the OS movement, cause I see it as a very good thing, but...
Isn't it self contradictory on one hand to produce a product as Open Source - releasing the content IP to the world freely - while fighting vigorously to protect the trademark - restricting identification/brand name IP from the world?
I don't care if a company doesn't release the source and fights for its trademarks - and similarly, it's a non-issue of someone puts out the source and doesn't enforce a trademark. But does a trademark on an open source product become free or not?
Then again, it's important not to confuse OS with free software. But how does the ideaology of OS affect trademark enforcement?
Don't you think that supporting a cause to help eliminate a problem that threatens the existance of IRC on the Internet is appropriate for such an advocacy group? They do help with legal defense in a lot of cases dealing with the Internet and freedom... I think that freedom also involves the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I know it sounds kinda like patriotic bullshit, but these script kiddies are clearly ruining a valuable resource on the web, and are threatening its existance. I can't think of any other group besides the EFF that would take on such a cause. Maybe they could have a spinoff organization...
My favorite IRC server is gone for good cause of these little f*ckers... who can I strangle now?
*sigh* And again, what's the purpose of this? We lose something in exchange for nothing. We should pursue these people more agressively, since we're really losing one of our best communication resources out there... cause I mean, when they're done with IRC, they'll go after whatever else looks ripe... AIM servers, ICQ servers... even Slashdot.
This is a good cause for the EFF to take up... prosecution of these script kiddies. I'll donate to that cause...
Yea, I know what you're saying... it's a problem throughout the business world. I guess it comes from a lot of different places, like the ruthlessness of the office environment, or the stress and nastiness that some people bring to their jobs... I mean, look at Slashdot! One out of every other post of mine gets NASTY replies with all kinds of personal attacks and snide comments. I would understand that if I said things like "All of you suck, I'm the greatest", but most of the time I just try to drop some insight or a personal anecdote into the conversation. But people are vicious.
I won't forget the time I posted a complaint on the CS newsgroup at college, and the people who responded were threatened with disciplinary action for what they said in some of their replies to me. Damn it was nasty. So I expect that sometimes, but you have to let it go... there's assholes in the world, and you can't let them spoil life for ya...
Your original post is one of the least hateful and demeaning things on these kinds of topics that I've read on here. There's no crime in having an opinion, explaining your reasoning and experience, and typing out some thoughts - as long as you don't resort to personal attacks and unsubstantiated claims to do it, which you certainly didn't do. I wish more people would post things like that that didn't reek of prima-donna arrogance. So, thank you for your thoughts.:)
I agree that there's a tendency for recent college grads to be prima donnas. Typically, such people are prima donnas themselves.
I just graduated, but I (humbly) do not consider myself a prima donna. I don't assume I know everything, I don't challenge direct orders (I'm not afraid to give feedback, though), and I enjoy working with other people. I also DON'T have a lot of experience or knowledge, but that doesn't mean I'm useless. My main professional goal right now is to learn as much as possible and contribute in any way possible to a real work environment.
In this case, though, as other people have said, age does NOT correlate to one's workplace attitude. Older programmers sometimes have a "I'm more important because I've worked longer" mentality that pollutes their interactions with younger co-workers. Sometimes they don't have this attitude, but it's an easy trap to fall into. Also, being a prima donna isn't something you grow out of unless you have an awakening - you can stay a prima donna forever if you choose to.
I don't take offense to the suggestion that younger people are prima donnas - because they are - but then again, older people can be too. I think that it's a problem with gifted people in general, and it affects various professional fields and areas of study. So this is basically history repeating itself with computers. The best solution is to prevent people from being prima donnas in the first place because it's a hard thing to convince someone with an oversize ego that something is wrong with them. But prevention is unlikely, seeing how even the dirtiest crackwhores and muscle thugs can also think that the world revolves around them as well...
You would be sorry not to hire me. I have the initiative to learn such things, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten through the CS cirriculum; I would have failed out my first semester. I hold an advantage over CS students that had things clearly explained to them and who had little hassle in making it through the program... people learn from mistakes and struggle, not through breezing by four years of college.
Regardless, posting on Slashdot is a wonderful way for me to see that computer professionals assume that only people who are technically curious about EVERYTHING with computers belong in the industry. I've learned many technical things in college on my own, it's just that I never got around to exploring Solaris as a tool for anything else other than programming my class assignments. And I do know UNIX to an extent, except that I don't know everything relating to UNIX. Solaris isn't a very user-friendly OR publicly available operating system, and the environment in which I had access to it was restrictive. I never said I didn't WANT to learn it or that I never tried. I just never tried as hard to learn it as I tried to learn, for example, Macromedia Flash - that doesn't mean I lack initiative.
The smiley is a nice touch too. It shows that you grin arrogantly at those who aren't the kind of programming GOD you think you are. That's okay, though; please post your name so I know not to apply to any jobs where I might have to deal with your rudeness and egotism.
is how Sun pretty much paid to be the exclusive computer vendor to my university - well, not exclusive, but my university was still in bed with them.
The end result is that very little of our computer science work was done outside of Solaris. Perhaps none, even.
I mean, Solaris is a solid OS, but not only do I have no Windows knowledge from college whatsoever, I also don't really know Linux or MacOS or any other operating system... or any other flavors of Unix, pretty much. The CS department was also very inflexible about introducing anything into the cirriculum that would promote variety and not propriety. There was a LUG on campus, but it was strictly extra-cirricular and outside the scope of the CS program. But it was at least something.
It would have been NICE to have some variety thrown in there. It also would have been nice if they actually had a user group or any kind of initiative to TEACH us Solaris. Upon entering the CS program, it was assumed that you knew basic Unix commands. While this may not be too much to ask, they had little in the way of reference guides and decent user assistance. If a professor wanted you to do something, he told you what commands to type. Yes, there were MAN pages, but man pages are sometimes cryptic and not a very useful resource to someone who doesn't know they're even there. I fault the university AND Sun for this - their OS is not user-friendly, but it's not learner-friendly either.
I suppose the worst part was when a professor gave an assignment and left you hanging as a result - through incorrect permissions on class files, typos on command-lines for step-by-step instructions, misplaced binaries, etc. - and the solution was to ask a fellow classmate or computer site operator for assistance and receive many sneers, dirty looks, and belittlement in the process. "OH, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE CHMOD? *GRUNT* " Reading the FAQ was more like going on a search engine and reading endless pages of technical documents to find simple command references, help files, and troubleshooters. On certain projects, this took hours.
There was no use trying to learn to use Solaris as a user OS, either. Every student in the university had an e-mail account on the central servers (4 MB limit to files, limited user time) that served as our work environment for CS. Yes, we got extended user time (but you had to switch groups for it for EVERY CLASS, and professors had a funny habit of not mentioning the group number on the syllabus or in class), but as you can imagine our capabilities on the systems were somewhat limited - except for the glaring security holes, but that's another story. The "where" command was disabled, and few applications were installed or accessible to students. In essence, if you wanted to use Solaris as a user OS, you pretty much had to have your own computer to use for it.
In conclusion, I have little to no programming experience outside of Solaris (I kinda stopped going to the LUG after a while, mostly because I didn't have access to a Linux box), but I don't really know how to use Solaris either. Furthermore, I no longer have access to Solaris either. I'm poor, I can't afford another computer, I don't have enough HD space to dual boot, I've got a lot of cheezy hardware that I don't want to go to waste (webcam, digital speakers, obscure network card, TV tuner), and I'm not involved or interested in any projects at the moment. And unlike the days of MS-DOS, Solaris has little relevance as a desktop OS at the moment - and even if it did, I wouldn't know about it.
This is why I don't like Sun. They don't just want to beat MS, they want to BE MS. They try to force their own brand of uniformity into institutions as well. They suck just like MS does, but in different ways. I'm glad I didn't get the Bachelors of MFC in CS, but what I have is somewhat useless to me at the moment. After four years of college, I still can't write usable programs on my home computer. At least with some diversity in OSes, I could have had more choices to find something that interested me and that I would want to work with even after college. I think that's what we need to focus on for kids today - let them learn different things so they don't get stuck on one thing in the future. Then maybe people won't have to dual-boot in the future just to use proprietary software/hardware when needed.
"... at the very moment that Arthur said, "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle," a freak wormhole opened up in the fabric of the space-time continuum and carried his words far far back in time across almost infinite reaches of space to a distant Galaxy where strange and warlike beings were poised on the brink of frightful interstellar battle.
The two opposing leaders were meeting for the last time.
A dreadful silence fell across the conference table as the commander of the Vl'hurgs, resplendent in his black jeweled battle shorts, gazed levelly at the G'Gugvuntt leader squatting opposite him in a cloud of green sweat-smelling steam, and, with a million sleek and horribly beweaponed star cruisers poised to unleash electric death at his single word of command, challenged the vile creature to take back what it had said about his mother.
The creature stirred in his sickly broiling vapor, and at that very moment the words "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my life-style" drifted across the table.
Unfortunately, in the Vl'hurg tongue this was the most dreadful insult imaginable, and there was nothing for it but to wage terrible war for centuries.
Eventually, of course, after their Galaxy had been decimated over a few thousand years, it was realized that the whole thing had been a ghastly mistake, and so the two opposing battle fleets settled their few remaining differences in order to launch a joint attack on our own Galaxy - now positively identified as the source of the offending remark.
For thousands more years, the mighty ships tore across the empty wastes of space and finally dived screaming on to the first planet they came across - which happened to be Earth - where due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog."
The end. Courtesy of the late Douglas Adams. Keep small dogs out of the nanobot lab.
hahaha... I have a problem with verbose posts. Apparently, my condition doesn't disable me from writing... it prevents me from keeping my ideas brief and manageable at times.
Add another case to the anti-drug argument - I am a thoroughly unhappy person on medication, and I only take it when I'm in a business situation that I need to take care of that wouldn't involve fun anyway. In the end, I wind up having pride and confidence for getting the job done, which is a lot better than being happily unfocused and then a failure.
And you're right about how ADD is induced by jumping around from topic to topic. I found that I was a far better student in my two-course winter sessions than in my five-course semesters... and the workload:time ratio was about the same for each, maybe heavier for the winter sessions. I think our high school system is a failure for that reason too... You can't expect a kid to take 7 serious subjects plus gym and lunch and work to their peak performance in anything. It's a waste of youth, no wonder the kids all smoke weed today...
... the usage of the term "technologically driven ADD". This trivializes Attention Deficit Disorder. I have what you would call "biologically driven ADD", and in the past year alone I've had many smart, respectable people tell me that ADD is a load of bullshit and an excuse for people who choose not to perform well. This usage of the term just makes it sound like the term ADD can be applied to any situation where people don't focus as much as other people would like them to. Plus, it's used carelessly and reinforces the idea that it's a throwaway term.
ADD is a true condition... not a "get out of jail free" card for when you fail to live up to your responsibilities, but a personal problem which must be overcome to achieve goals in life. Many people fail to acknowledge the fact that many people put a lot of effort into overcoming symptoms related to ADD, more effort than their non-ADD peers... but are quick to pounce on someone when they fail to overcome their personal difficulties exacerbated by symptoms of ADD. Again, I'm not saying people with ADD should get special priviledges, but it's not fake, and it certainly is a learning disability that should be accomodated for and not discriminated against - WITHOUT lowering the expectations of the individual. Handicapped people are still expected to do their own food shopping in most cases, but at least they have special parking spaces in front of the store. People with ADD, on the other hand, are routinely fired, kicked out of school, and rejected in social circles for problems related to ADD. Yes, it's unfortunate that kindergarten age children are fed amphetamines at any time they don't behave (yes it works in reverse too... ADD is also applied blithely and mistakenly as a brand to people who don't conform or act as expected), but two wrongs don't make a right.
I know this looks like an offtopic troll, but society throws around the term ADD yet doesn't respect the condition. And the Slashdot crowd is particularly arrogant about such things... I'm about to get flamed and modded straight to hell for this. But I would appreciate it if people would use the word "jaded" instead of referencing ADD in these cases. ADD is serious and I fully resent the overuse and jargonizing of the word. It's exactly why I've had mature, well-respected, well-educated adults scowl in my face when I simply mention my condition as a fact. Please don't encourage that line of thinking.
That's like saying it's wrong to sell ice cream, but it's okay to sell a waffle cone. An ice cream cone would still cost money. All they would have to do is give out free ice cream to whomever wants it.
And here's how the analogy words: GPL software is like going to Dairy Queen, cupping your hands, and trying to carry home a scoop of pistachio. That is the average user... Linux resembles melted ice cream. Smart programmers would bring their own bowls and would have portable freezers in the trunk of their cars to carry it around... but that would obviously make them "free ice cream hobbyists". And corporations just send a big refrigerated truck over and carry all the ice cream they want back to corporate headquarters, where they save lots of money and run a good business selling books below cost + free ice cream.
Uhh, anyway.
Well, before anyone takes anything I've said seriously... everyone should stop trying to assume what FSF is all about in their own words, cause obviously the FSF is the brainchild of RMS, and you're speaking for him everytime you speak of the FSF or the GPL's intentions. Just like you're speaking for Bill Gates every time you tell people if Microsoft is asking, "Where can we try to drag you kicking and screaming today?"....
Did I put words in his mouth? No. I said other people do.
Did I personally attack him? No. I commented on his appearance. Some of my favorite professors in college were fat, hairy, and smelled like they didn't take showers, and yet they're still my favorite professors. You're the shallow-minded one, for taking my comment way out of context, even AFTER I explained it.
But yea, I have to be wrong about putting RMS in anything but a holy light... if that makes you feel better and lets you sleep at night.
Slashdot Mirror
Good one. That's the first thing I thought when looking at the story.
Besides, you never know who's side Eminem is on. He's nutty like that. But, if anyone serves a good challenge to the industry, it's his finger-flippin psychopathic self...
Someone provide a link to the sound. Please.
(from a user sick of his current AOL IM sounds)
I believe that they'll be CHARGING $250 a head, making a nice profit on the dinner for their legal funds. I can't imagine a dinner that actually COSTS $250 a head unless they're serving baked gold...
Why couldn't they test it with some good music? Like Britney Spears?
I could encode Britney's music with PGP and it would still sound just as good.
*dreams of bouncing breasts*
Well, I can post... I had the same problem with another posting I had yesterday as well - a bunch of people thought it should be one lower, so someone even moderated it "redundant" - and it was post #6! (The chance that someone said the same thing already is nil - and I checked it out, too). I really don't care either way, because my karma has been at least 48 for the past three months. Not that it matters for anything, but I like being a good contributor to discussion...
Sorry to you both - it's from "The Sound of Music" which DEFINITELY starred Julie Andrews in the movie.
At least I'm very sure of it. Someone let me know how I may be wrong. I've never seen "My Fair Lady" but I'm pretty sure I've seen the song sung in a movie, that's why I'm pretty sure it's NOT from that...
ex-pe-al-i-do-cious...
(Apologies to Julie Andrews...)
I'm not gonna try to slander the OS movement, cause I see it as a very good thing, but...
Isn't it self contradictory on one hand to produce a product as Open Source - releasing the content IP to the world freely - while fighting vigorously to protect the trademark - restricting identification/brand name IP from the world?
I don't care if a company doesn't release the source and fights for its trademarks - and similarly, it's a non-issue of someone puts out the source and doesn't enforce a trademark. But does a trademark on an open source product become free or not?
Then again, it's important not to confuse OS with free software. But how does the ideaology of OS affect trademark enforcement?
Don't you think that supporting a cause to help eliminate a problem that threatens the existance of IRC on the Internet is appropriate for such an advocacy group? They do help with legal defense in a lot of cases dealing with the Internet and freedom... I think that freedom also involves the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I know it sounds kinda like patriotic bullshit, but these script kiddies are clearly ruining a valuable resource on the web, and are threatening its existance. I can't think of any other group besides the EFF that would take on such a cause. Maybe they could have a spinoff organization...
My favorite IRC server is gone for good cause of these little f*ckers... who can I strangle now?
*sigh* And again, what's the purpose of this? We lose something in exchange for nothing. We should pursue these people more agressively, since we're really losing one of our best communication resources out there... cause I mean, when they're done with IRC, they'll go after whatever else looks ripe... AIM servers, ICQ servers... even Slashdot.
This is a good cause for the EFF to take up... prosecution of these script kiddies. I'll donate to that cause...
thanks dude. I appreciate that.
Yea, I know what you're saying... it's a problem throughout the business world. I guess it comes from a lot of different places, like the ruthlessness of the office environment, or the stress and nastiness that some people bring to their jobs... I mean, look at Slashdot! One out of every other post of mine gets NASTY replies with all kinds of personal attacks and snide comments. I would understand that if I said things like "All of you suck, I'm the greatest", but most of the time I just try to drop some insight or a personal anecdote into the conversation. But people are vicious.
I won't forget the time I posted a complaint on the CS newsgroup at college, and the people who responded were threatened with disciplinary action for what they said in some of their replies to me. Damn it was nasty. So I expect that sometimes, but you have to let it go... there's assholes in the world, and you can't let them spoil life for ya...
Your original post is one of the least hateful and demeaning things on these kinds of topics that I've read on here. There's no crime in having an opinion, explaining your reasoning and experience, and typing out some thoughts - as long as you don't resort to personal attacks and unsubstantiated claims to do it, which you certainly didn't do. I wish more people would post things like that that didn't reek of prima-donna arrogance. So, thank you for your thoughts. :)
I agree that there's a tendency for recent college grads to be prima donnas. Typically, such people are prima donnas themselves.
I just graduated, but I (humbly) do not consider myself a prima donna. I don't assume I know everything, I don't challenge direct orders (I'm not afraid to give feedback, though), and I enjoy working with other people. I also DON'T have a lot of experience or knowledge, but that doesn't mean I'm useless. My main professional goal right now is to learn as much as possible and contribute in any way possible to a real work environment.
In this case, though, as other people have said, age does NOT correlate to one's workplace attitude. Older programmers sometimes have a "I'm more important because I've worked longer" mentality that pollutes their interactions with younger co-workers. Sometimes they don't have this attitude, but it's an easy trap to fall into. Also, being a prima donna isn't something you grow out of unless you have an awakening - you can stay a prima donna forever if you choose to.
I don't take offense to the suggestion that younger people are prima donnas - because they are - but then again, older people can be too. I think that it's a problem with gifted people in general, and it affects various professional fields and areas of study. So this is basically history repeating itself with computers. The best solution is to prevent people from being prima donnas in the first place because it's a hard thing to convince someone with an oversize ego that something is wrong with them. But prevention is unlikely, seeing how even the dirtiest crackwhores and muscle thugs can also think that the world revolves around them as well...
You would be sorry not to hire me. I have the initiative to learn such things, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten through the CS cirriculum; I would have failed out my first semester. I hold an advantage over CS students that had things clearly explained to them and who had little hassle in making it through the program... people learn from mistakes and struggle, not through breezing by four years of college.
Regardless, posting on Slashdot is a wonderful way for me to see that computer professionals assume that only people who are technically curious about EVERYTHING with computers belong in the industry. I've learned many technical things in college on my own, it's just that I never got around to exploring Solaris as a tool for anything else other than programming my class assignments. And I do know UNIX to an extent, except that I don't know everything relating to UNIX. Solaris isn't a very user-friendly OR publicly available operating system, and the environment in which I had access to it was restrictive. I never said I didn't WANT to learn it or that I never tried. I just never tried as hard to learn it as I tried to learn, for example, Macromedia Flash - that doesn't mean I lack initiative.
The smiley is a nice touch too. It shows that you grin arrogantly at those who aren't the kind of programming GOD you think you are. That's okay, though; please post your name so I know not to apply to any jobs where I might have to deal with your rudeness and egotism.
is how Sun pretty much paid to be the exclusive computer vendor to my university - well, not exclusive, but my university was still in bed with them.
The end result is that very little of our computer science work was done outside of Solaris. Perhaps none, even.
I mean, Solaris is a solid OS, but not only do I have no Windows knowledge from college whatsoever, I also don't really know Linux or MacOS or any other operating system... or any other flavors of Unix, pretty much. The CS department was also very inflexible about introducing anything into the cirriculum that would promote variety and not propriety. There was a LUG on campus, but it was strictly extra-cirricular and outside the scope of the CS program. But it was at least something.
It would have been NICE to have some variety thrown in there. It also would have been nice if they actually had a user group or any kind of initiative to TEACH us Solaris. Upon entering the CS program, it was assumed that you knew basic Unix commands. While this may not be too much to ask, they had little in the way of reference guides and decent user assistance. If a professor wanted you to do something, he told you what commands to type. Yes, there were MAN pages, but man pages are sometimes cryptic and not a very useful resource to someone who doesn't know they're even there. I fault the university AND Sun for this - their OS is not user-friendly, but it's not learner-friendly either.
I suppose the worst part was when a professor gave an assignment and left you hanging as a result - through incorrect permissions on class files, typos on command-lines for step-by-step instructions, misplaced binaries, etc. - and the solution was to ask a fellow classmate or computer site operator for assistance and receive many sneers, dirty looks, and belittlement in the process. "OH, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE CHMOD? *GRUNT* " Reading the FAQ was more like going on a search engine and reading endless pages of technical documents to find simple command references, help files, and troubleshooters. On certain projects, this took hours.
There was no use trying to learn to use Solaris as a user OS, either. Every student in the university had an e-mail account on the central servers (4 MB limit to files, limited user time) that served as our work environment for CS. Yes, we got extended user time (but you had to switch groups for it for EVERY CLASS, and professors had a funny habit of not mentioning the group number on the syllabus or in class), but as you can imagine our capabilities on the systems were somewhat limited - except for the glaring security holes, but that's another story. The "where" command was disabled, and few applications were installed or accessible to students. In essence, if you wanted to use Solaris as a user OS, you pretty much had to have your own computer to use for it.
In conclusion, I have little to no programming experience outside of Solaris (I kinda stopped going to the LUG after a while, mostly because I didn't have access to a Linux box), but I don't really know how to use Solaris either. Furthermore, I no longer have access to Solaris either. I'm poor, I can't afford another computer, I don't have enough HD space to dual boot, I've got a lot of cheezy hardware that I don't want to go to waste (webcam, digital speakers, obscure network card, TV tuner), and I'm not involved or interested in any projects at the moment. And unlike the days of MS-DOS, Solaris has little relevance as a desktop OS at the moment - and even if it did, I wouldn't know about it.
This is why I don't like Sun. They don't just want to beat MS, they want to BE MS. They try to force their own brand of uniformity into institutions as well. They suck just like MS does, but in different ways. I'm glad I didn't get the Bachelors of MFC in CS, but what I have is somewhat useless to me at the moment. After four years of college, I still can't write usable programs on my home computer. At least with some diversity in OSes, I could have had more choices to find something that interested me and that I would want to work with even after college. I think that's what we need to focus on for kids today - let them learn different things so they don't get stuck on one thing in the future. Then maybe people won't have to dual-boot in the future just to use proprietary software/hardware when needed.
They would have a very hard time recognizing Michael Jackson...
"... at the very moment that Arthur said, "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle," a freak wormhole opened up in the fabric of the space-time continuum and carried his words far far back in time across almost infinite reaches of space to a distant Galaxy where strange and warlike beings were poised on the brink of frightful interstellar battle.
The two opposing leaders were meeting for the last time.
A dreadful silence fell across the conference table as the commander of the Vl'hurgs, resplendent in his black jeweled battle shorts, gazed levelly at the G'Gugvuntt leader squatting opposite him in a cloud of green sweat-smelling steam, and, with a million sleek and horribly beweaponed star cruisers poised to unleash electric death at his single word of command, challenged the vile creature to take back what it had said about his mother.
The creature stirred in his sickly broiling vapor, and at that very moment the words "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my life-style" drifted across the table.
Unfortunately, in the Vl'hurg tongue this was the most dreadful insult imaginable, and there was nothing for it but to wage terrible war for centuries.
Eventually, of course, after their Galaxy had been decimated over a few thousand years, it was realized that the whole thing had been a ghastly mistake, and so the two opposing battle fleets settled their few remaining differences in order to launch a joint attack on our own Galaxy - now positively identified as the source of the offending remark.
For thousands more years, the mighty ships tore across the empty wastes of space and finally dived screaming on to the first planet they came across - which happened to be Earth - where due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog."
The end. Courtesy of the late Douglas Adams. Keep small dogs out of the nanobot lab.
hahaha... I have a problem with verbose posts. Apparently, my condition doesn't disable me from writing... it prevents me from keeping my ideas brief and manageable at times.
Not now though. I already started drinking.
He forgot native Assembly for whatever platform he's working on.
And he forgot to test each implementation in single processor, SMP, or Beowulf cluster (Imagine one!) on his platform.
For that matter, he forgot to test it on many different platforms.
And with different hard drive an memory types too.
And at different elevations... computing runs faster in the Colorado air...
And he forgot to test it with or without water cooling or a Peltier cooler... or both...
Finally, he forgot what the sun looks like.
Add another case to the anti-drug argument - I am a thoroughly unhappy person on medication, and I only take it when I'm in a business situation that I need to take care of that wouldn't involve fun anyway. In the end, I wind up having pride and confidence for getting the job done, which is a lot better than being happily unfocused and then a failure.
And you're right about how ADD is induced by jumping around from topic to topic. I found that I was a far better student in my two-course winter sessions than in my five-course semesters... and the workload:time ratio was about the same for each, maybe heavier for the winter sessions. I think our high school system is a failure for that reason too... You can't expect a kid to take 7 serious subjects plus gym and lunch and work to their peak performance in anything. It's a waste of youth, no wonder the kids all smoke weed today...
... the usage of the term "technologically driven ADD". This trivializes Attention Deficit Disorder. I have what you would call "biologically driven ADD", and in the past year alone I've had many smart, respectable people tell me that ADD is a load of bullshit and an excuse for people who choose not to perform well. This usage of the term just makes it sound like the term ADD can be applied to any situation where people don't focus as much as other people would like them to. Plus, it's used carelessly and reinforces the idea that it's a throwaway term.
ADD is a true condition... not a "get out of jail free" card for when you fail to live up to your responsibilities, but a personal problem which must be overcome to achieve goals in life. Many people fail to acknowledge the fact that many people put a lot of effort into overcoming symptoms related to ADD, more effort than their non-ADD peers... but are quick to pounce on someone when they fail to overcome their personal difficulties exacerbated by symptoms of ADD. Again, I'm not saying people with ADD should get special priviledges, but it's not fake, and it certainly is a learning disability that should be accomodated for and not discriminated against - WITHOUT lowering the expectations of the individual. Handicapped people are still expected to do their own food shopping in most cases, but at least they have special parking spaces in front of the store. People with ADD, on the other hand, are routinely fired, kicked out of school, and rejected in social circles for problems related to ADD. Yes, it's unfortunate that kindergarten age children are fed amphetamines at any time they don't behave (yes it works in reverse too... ADD is also applied blithely and mistakenly as a brand to people who don't conform or act as expected), but two wrongs don't make a right.
I know this looks like an offtopic troll, but society throws around the term ADD yet doesn't respect the condition. And the Slashdot crowd is particularly arrogant about such things... I'm about to get flamed and modded straight to hell for this. But I would appreciate it if people would use the word "jaded" instead of referencing ADD in these cases. ADD is serious and I fully resent the overuse and jargonizing of the word. It's exactly why I've had mature, well-respected, well-educated adults scowl in my face when I simply mention my condition as a fact. Please don't encourage that line of thinking.
When are we gonna make a computer program that can take the SAT's?
:)
And of course, the follow-up question: When will that program be ported to my College-Board approved TI-85?
That's like saying it's wrong to sell ice cream, but it's okay to sell a waffle cone. An ice cream cone would still cost money. All they would have to do is give out free ice cream to whomever wants it.
And here's how the analogy words: GPL software is like going to Dairy Queen, cupping your hands, and trying to carry home a scoop of pistachio. That is the average user... Linux resembles melted ice cream. Smart programmers would bring their own bowls and would have portable freezers in the trunk of their cars to carry it around... but that would obviously make them "free ice cream hobbyists". And corporations just send a big refrigerated truck over and carry all the ice cream they want back to corporate headquarters, where they save lots of money and run a good business selling books below cost + free ice cream.
Uhh, anyway.
Well, before anyone takes anything I've said seriously... everyone should stop trying to assume what FSF is all about in their own words, cause obviously the FSF is the brainchild of RMS, and you're speaking for him everytime you speak of the FSF or the GPL's intentions. Just like you're speaking for Bill Gates every time you tell people if Microsoft is asking, "Where can we try to drag you kicking and screaming today?"....
Did I put words in his mouth? No. I said other people do.
Did I personally attack him? No. I commented on his appearance. Some of my favorite professors in college were fat, hairy, and smelled like they didn't take showers, and yet they're still my favorite professors. You're the shallow-minded one, for taking my comment way out of context, even AFTER I explained it.
But yea, I have to be wrong about putting RMS in anything but a holy light... if that makes you feel better and lets you sleep at night.